Weather chaos

Firefighters expect cooler weather as California wildfires continue to rage

Wildfire north-west of LA triples in size but forecasters say increased humidity and lower temperatures should help fire teams

the Guardian,

4 May, 2013

A wildfire tearing through a coastal region in southern California nearly tripled in size as high temperatures fueled the flames, but a fire official said early Saturday that a favorable shift in the weather could help crews battle the flames.

The fire 50 miles north-west of Los Angeles mushroomed to 43 square miles Friday as 900 firefighters used engines, aircraft, bulldozers and other equipment to battle the flames.

Forecasters said a weekend of increased humidity should help teams fighting the early-season blaze.

"It's a total turnaround from what we had," said Kurt Kaplan, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "It should be a much better day for firefighters tomorrow."

Mike Lindbery of the Ventura County fire department said early Saturday that crews intended to take advantage of lower temperatures and higher humidity.

"That will give us a chance because it's going to really bring that fire activity down quite a bit. I think we will make some significant progress," Lindbery said.

Despite its size and speed of growth, the fire that broke out Thursday and quickly moved through the Camarillo Springs area has caused damage to just 15 structures, though it's threatening thousands.

Residents were grateful so many homes were spared.

"It came pretty close. All of these houses - these firemen did a tremendous job. Very, very thankful for them," Shayne Poindexter said. Flames came within 30 feet of the house he was building.

Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said parts of the Newbury Park community of Thousand Oaks were under mandatory and voluntary evacuations. Overnight, he said firefighters planned to stockpile resources along a road that lies between the fire and Malibu, protecting homes on the fire's eastern front. Its cause of the fire is under investigation.

The good fortune of the Camarillo Springs area wasn't the result of luck or clairvoyance by firefighters. It came after years of planning and knowing that sooner or later just such a conflagration was going to strike.

Camarillo Springs, which was nothing more than rugged backcountry when homes began to go up there 30 years ago, was well prepared.

Its homes were built with sprinkler systems and fireproof exteriors from the roofs to the foundations. Residents are required to clear brush and other combustible materials to within 100 feet of the dwellings, and developers had to make sure the cul-de-sacs that fill the area's canyons were built wide enough to accommodate the emergency vehicles seen on TV racing in to battle the flames.

Residents in the area are also particularly vigilant about clearing brush from the hillsides next to their yards, Kruschke said. Normally, firefighters remind people in such areas to do that every June, but in Camarillo Springs people do it every few months. The work paid off this week.

The type of blaze that hit the area usually doesn't strike Southern California wild-land until September or October, after the summer has dried out hillside vegetation. But the state has seen a severe drought during the past year, with the water content of California's snowpack only 17% of normal.

That created late-summer conditions by May, and when hot Santa Ana winds and high temperatures arrived this week, the spring flames that firefighters routinely knock down once or twice a year quickly roared up a hillside _ out of control.

On Friday, the wildfire stormed back through canyons toward inland neighborhoods when winds reversed direction.

After jumping Pacific Coast Highway 20 miles north of Malibu, the fire burned for a time on a beach shooting range at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

The blaze is one of more than 680 wildfires in the state so far this year – about 200 more than average.

In Riverside County, a four-square-mile fire that destroyed a home burned for a third day in mountains north of Banning. It was 75% contained.

Fifty-five miles away from Camarillo, in the hills above Glendale, a blaze broke out Friday afternoon, prompting evacuations and closure of a freeway as it quickly charred 75 acres.

In Tehama County in Northern California, the size of a wildfire north of Butte Meadows was revised down from more than 15 square miles to 10 square miles, state fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

The fire, which was 20% contained, was burning in a remote area and wasn't posing an imminent threat to any structures.

Snow and ice in the East; Fires in the West

Winter Storm Achilles: Historic May Snow

Winter Storm Achilles delivered historic amounts of snow for the month of May to the Midwest and even parts of the South

the Weather Channel,

4 May, 2013

On May 2, Achilles dumped over a foot of snow from north-central Iowa to southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Snow was reported as far south as northwest Arkansas the following day and evening, persisting into the morning of May 4.

Here are the peak snowfall totals by state:

Buckhorn Mtn., Colo.: 28.2"

Near Buford, Wyo.: 20"

Near Harrisburg, Neb.: 6.1"

Near Manning, Kan.: 5"

Osage, Iowa: 13"

Blooming Prairie, Minn.: 18"

Beresford, S.D.: 6"

Near Mellen, Wis.: 21.3"

Near Warrensburg, Mo. : 6"

Near Decatur, Ark.: 5"

Westville, Okla.: 3"

Some other notable totals include:

Ft. Collins, Colo.: 10-16"

Near Boulder, Colo.: 8"

Denver, Colo.: 3.2"

Cheyenne, Wyo.: 11.6"

Omaha, Neb.: 3.1"

Sioux Falls, S.D.: 1.5"

Rochester, Minn.: 14.3"

Mpls/St. Paul, Minn.: 0.5"

Des Moines, Ia.: 6.9"

Kansas City, Mo.: 0.5" (only second measurable May snow on record)

Springfield, Mo.: 1.4"

Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyo., as well as Interstate 70 westbound near Georgetown, Colo. were closed due to accidents and/or heavy snow on May 1.

The weight of heavy snow downed tree limbs, triggering power outages in parts of northeast Colorado Front Range. Power outages and downed power lines were also reported in southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin early on May 2.

This was the first one-inch-plus May snowfall anywhere in the state of Iowa since 1967 and the first such May snow in Sioux Falls, S.D. since 1944. This was on the heels of a rare ice storm for mid-April in Sioux Falls, Winter Storm Walda.

Achilles was the May snowstorm of record in Omaha, Neb. (3.1"), Des Moines, Iowa (6.9"), Eau Claire, Wis. (9.3") and Rochester, Minn. (14.3").

A tentative May snowfall record for the state of Minnesota may have been set in Blooming Prairie, Minn. (18"). Records will need to be officially certified by climatologists and meteorologists. Tentative May snowstorm records in Iowa (13" in Osage) and Wisconsin (21.3" near Mellen) may also have been set. Snowfall totals up to 6" in central Missouri may also flirt with May state records, there.

Tulsa, Okla. also picked up a trace of snow, the first and only May snowflakes on record, there. Up to 5" of snow was the first May snow of record in the state of Arkansas. Springfield, Mo. picked up its latest measurable snowfall on record.

In addition to the snow, the cold air mass that has invaded the central United States is breaking record low temperatures. Lubbock, Texas (27 degrees) and Midland, Texas (33 degrees) both set new record lows for the month of May on Friday morning. A daily record low temperature for May 3 was set in Dallas/Ft. Worth (39 degrees).